197 Shares in BlackRock $BLK Bought by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 197 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 76.5% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,160.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $179.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,141.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,046.27. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.